Elongated scenes lead up to a reason in their climax, others are just purely repetitive. And all of them get to that point after much banal small talk. This BS conversation is thematically purposeful (showing interaction between strangers is often soulless, alien even) but this is why pure realism isn't a product of art. A conversation about road directions or the weather is just shit, no matter the context.

Scarlett Johansson: like you've never seen her before. Erotic, mysterious, dark, beautiful, and perfect - if only the great filmmakers (like Kubrick) could have made a sci-fi fever dream like this & that amazing. I've never felt that quiet (like what could I say about it so far) or stunned in years during my first viewing (last year), by the way.

Seems I'm in the minority, but I really didn't like it. Scotland is pretty and I like that Johansson's body isn't retouched ad absurdum. But there's a certain type of film - Upstream Colour; Tree of Life; this... that break the mould, sure, but maintain the mediocrity. The innovation feels more formal, more apparent than conceptual. And it all seems suspiciously steeped in the overinflated identities of average men.

A despicable, deeply misogynist slog, that alternates unevenly between high tension and long episodes of boredom. All the beautiful photography of empty Scottish wastes can't make up for how empty this garbage will make you feel.